M A I N   N E W S

Russian plane with 143 on board crashes

Moscow, July 3
A Russian airliner carrying 143 persons crashed and burst into flames near the Siberian city of Irkutsk, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said. The Tu-154 plane belonging to the Vladivostokavia airline disappeared from radar screens about 1710 GMT (10.40 p.m. IST), news reports said. The Interfax news agency said preliminary reports indicated all 133 passengers and 10 crew aboard had died. The plane was en route from Yekaterinburg to Vladiovostok, the major port on Russia’s Pacific Coast. AP

It’s Amar Vilas for Musharraf
Vajpayee to stay in Palace Hotel
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 3
Finally, the choice appears to have been made and it is almost certain that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will stay at the Oberoi Group’s Amar Vilas and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will grace the Palace Hotel in Agra during the summit talks on July 15-16.

A two-member advance team from Islamabad, which arrived here last evening, today held discussions with Indian officials on the security and protocol aspects of the visit of the Pakistan President, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Nirupama Rao told mediapersons.

The Pakistani Chief of Protocol, Brig Khalid Habib (retd), accompanied by the Chief Security Officer, Lieut-Col Mohammad Ilyas, who held discussions with the Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr Manvir Singh, had earlier said that they had come to “coordinate and fine-tune” the programme.

While the Pakistan visiting team has given its tentative OK for the hotels in Agra, the final announcement would only be made after the team returns to Islamabad after its visits to Agra, Jaipur and Ajmer, sources said, adding that the media briefing would be conducted at Mughal Sheraton.

All the three hotels — Oberoi’s newly built Amar Vilas, Jay Pee group’s Palace Hotel and Welcome group’s Mughal Sheraton are very close to the Taj Mahal.

The respective hotel managements had said there was something special that would be announced by them once the government made the final choice.